Former employee sues Molly Maguire's for sexual harassment

Bankruptcy isn’t the only problem the Molly Maguire’s owners are facing.

Former employee Lesley Fetzer, of Exton, filed sexual harassment claims with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Molly Maguire’s in April of this year.

Fetzer’s job was securing and managing corporate/business catering, according to the civil action complaint. Around mid-September 2012, Fetzer and her employers were taking a group picture at a work event, during which the Director of Operations Doug Blane grabbed Fetzer’s buttocks, according to the complaint. Fetzer immediately told Blane “she did not like to be touched in such a manner,” the complaint states, and she told her employers Conor Cummins and Declan Mannion that this kind of behavior had to stop.

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Cummins, Mannion and Blane are all named in the lawsuit, in which Fetzer is seeking $500,000.

About a month later, “one of the owners,” as the complaint states, allegedly asked Fetzer to work on a new clientele base known as “swingers” and to attend a few parties with him and pretend to be his wife; this offer was immediately declined by Fetzer. The owner then said the conversation was arousing him and he needed to go to the bathroom to “relieve himself,” according to the complaint. Around the end of October 2012, Fetzer gave her resignation, but after the owner reportedly promised the work environment would change, she continued to work another month but was subjected to more behavior she found disturbing, such as the owner drawing male genitalia on her notebook, the complaint states. Around Nov. 12, 2012, the complaint states Fetzer left the job and received repeated calls from December 2012 and January 2013, prompting Fetzer to ask the owner to stop with the harassing behavior. In nearly every instance, the complaint attributes an incident to “one of the owners,” instead of giving a specific name. Pietro Barbieri, Fetzer’s lawyer, would not identify which owner was responsible for the sexual harassment.

According to the complaint, Fetzer has had trouble acquiring a job after leaving, as each company “seems to know the specifics about her separation from defendant Molly Maguire’s, although she has told no one.” The complaint alleges the company is trying to prevent Fetzer from obtaining a new job in the restaurant and catering business.

Cummins’ and Mannion’s lawyer, David Klauder, did not respond for comment as of press time July 21.